Cellular or mobile telephones, personal digital assistants (“PDAs”), wireless text messaging devices, laptop computers, and other portable communication devices with text messaging capability have increasingly become a popular means of wireless, private and rapid communication of messages to users who are continually moving about. As used herein, the term “messaging device” refers generally to any portable communication device adapted to receive, transmit, store, and display a message. The message may take any form for communicating information, including text, code, graphics, and any combination of the foregoing. Typically, a message service provider receives a message intended for a particular messaging device associated with the message service provider. A network of transceiver stations and/or satellites, maintained by the message service provider, broadcasts the message. The messaging device receives the broadcasted message when in range of a transceiver station or satellite, and alerts the recipient with an audible, visual, or vibratory signal. In two-way messaging systems the messaging device is also adapted to send a message, which allows the first message recipient to reply to the sender of the initial message.
Rising material and operational costs and a shortage of nurses have put pressure on the healthcare facilities to implement systems to improve workflow. Systems comprising networked automated dispensing machines (herein referred to also as “ADMs”) for dispensing drugs and related items have been known for a number of years, and by way of example, a form of a such system can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,014,875 and 6,021,392, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. ADMs typically include multiple drawers for containing a variety of items and are placed in various locations within a healthcare facility. All of the drawers are normally locked to prevent unauthorized access to the items therein. A control unit on the ADM may incorporate a computer having a processor, a keyboard, a display, and a memory to permit user entry of an authorized access code in combination with a patient name and an item designation. Upon entry of appropriate information, the drawer containing the designated item is unlocked to permit the item to be removed by the user. The unlocked drawer is then closed by the user, whereupon the control unit locks the drawer again and generates a detailed access record specifying, for example, the date and time, patient name, item designation, and name of the user who removed the item. The generated access record can be stored in memory, transmitted to a hospital central computer, and/or printed as a paper copy.
More sophisticated ADMs have a network connection to remote workstations, such as a pharmacy workstation also having a display screen, processor, and a keyboard, and to a central computer or server associated with one or more data bases that store item inventory information, medical orders issued by doctors, prescriptions, and other information related to patient care. Based on those orders and prescriptions received from doctors, the pharmacy staff arrange for required items, such as prescribed medications, to be prepared and loaded into appropriate ADMs within the healthcare facility. The items are placed into drawers in the ADMs for later removal and use by users of the ADM, such as nurses. A complicating factor is the dynamic nature of the patient care environment. New orders and prescriptions from doctors are continually being created and existing orders and prescriptions may be cancelled, or changed, which sometimes requires more immediate attention on the part of a nurse. Further, new patients are being admitted to the healthcare facility while others are being discharged. Additionally, a patient's medication, for which a nurse is responsible, may or may not yet have been loaded into an ADM and the nurse must continually check for its arrival so that it may be administered.
To keep abreast of new orders and prescriptions or changes in either in prior art systems, the nurse must proactively log into an ADM which can be located some distance away from a patient, and check, for example, to see if new prescriptions are available or if medications have arrived at the ADM to fill a prescribed medication order or to see if orders have been canceled or changed. In some instances, a nurse knows that a new order has been issued by a doctor but must wait for it to be processed by the pharmacy staff, wait for it to become active on the central computer, and wait for the medication or medications to be loaded into the ADM before the nurse can act upon it. To ascertain when this has occurred, the nurse must proactively check the ADM. In other instances, a nurse knows that a patient has been admitted or transferred to the nurse's assigned work area but must again wait for orders and prescriptions for that patient to be processed, to become active, and the patient's medication or medications to be loaded into the local ADM. These situations have required the nurse to repeatedly check the ADM to learn if the medications are now available at the ADM or to learn what other actions may need to be performed.
It would be desirable to provide such needed information to the nursing staff in a more efficient manner so that the nurses' workflow could be handled more smoothly. Instead of requiring a nurse to physically go to an ADM to repeatedly check it for information relevant to the nurse's work, it would be desirable to send the information to the nurse, wherever he or she may be. The nurse could then receive the information without having to physically go to a central point. The ability of the nurse to receive relevant information at other locations, preferably any location within his or her primary care-giving area, would be more desirable for smoother workflow. Additionally, it would be even more desirable if a nurse could receive only certain information pertinent to his or her activities, and if the content parameters of the messages to the nurse could be controlled by the nurse. That is, a customized information notification system and method could increase the efficiency of the nursing staff and make their workflow go more smoothly.
Hence, those skilled in the art have recognized a need for a system and a method that improves the workflow of healthcare personnel by automatically providing them with timely information on events requiring their attention at their locations instead of at a single location. Furthermore, those skilled in the art have recognized a need for customized messages and message information for the nursing staff and other healthcare personnel. The present invention satisfies these and other needs.